^true. Seems that the early PR battle is being won by the developer which can go a long way. The door is being left open for NIMBYs to come in deride this building but the issue has already been framed quite well from a pro-tower stance.

evanstonnow.com has posted several more articles about this development, dealing specifically with zoning issues and with the expansion of fountain square plaza. there's also a poll to vote on what you think of the height of the tower proposal.

AIMING HIGH: In Evanston, where the city officials have been known to debate developments endlessly, they have something big to gnaw on. It's a proposed 49-story condo tower that would be the tallest in the suburbs. James Klutznick of Klutznick Fisher Development Co. and Tim Anderson of Focus Development Inc. have proposed it for the block bounded by Church, Orrington and Sherman in Evanston's downtown.

The site is near the developers' successful Sherman Plaza project. Hearings are expected to start in June, and some residents and public officials are already criticizing the height. Klutznick's response: "Evanston all by itself has become the downtown of the north lakefront,'' he said, adding that his location in the city center is appropriate for a signature building.

The slim design is the work of Laurence Booth at Booth Hansen Associates. He said he hopes Evanston will pick up on Chicago's cues about "tall and thin" being in.

evanstonnow.com has posted a new article about this project. there are some very positive-sounding quotes from 3 members of the evanston planning board. just about everyone seems to agree that if evanston is to have a very tall building, this is the right location for it. there's also a good quote from one of the planners about how he is not sympathetic to complaints coming from highrise condo dwellers about how this new tower might block their view. this project keeps getting good press.

i'm starting the liklihood odds at 25%. i know that sounds high to start with, but it really seems like there is a whole lot of enlightenment going on in the city of evanston right now. people, the right people, actually ARE judging this project for more than just its height figure, and that's something i previously thought evanston was entirely incapable of doing.

well it does look nice in the rendering, including the Florida Keys in the background.

Yep, another b.s. rendering by a developer/architect. However, seeing as it truly would look like there is a huge body of water in the background if the vantage point were rotated slightly to the west, I'll let this one pass. The rendering is basically just trying to combine the key features of what would have been 2 renderings - the slimness of the building and unique triangular shape of the block (from S) and the proximity of Lake Michigan (from W) - into a single rendering. It's more fudging than fabricating, since they'll likely get only 1 image displayed in most newspaper articles or website stories. Besides, feisty Evanstonians will know what's going on, so this rendering slight-of-hand is basically harmless.

It's not all that misleading. The shoreline bends to the west as it goes north, and if you drew a line up Sherman Avenue you'd hit water around the Wilmette border. In the watercolor the land just fades away gradually, but the view would not be all that different.

must be a north shore thing.... nice news and all but... its own thread?

"a north shore thing"? what the hell are you talking about? if another 500 foot building is proposed anywhere in suburban chicago, it's going to be getting it's own thread as well. if you can't understand how a 500 foot building in a little old suburban town center is MAJOR news, well, i can't help you. just go with it.

If this building were to go up in its current form and height, it would be HUGE! True, there are 10 proposed skyscrapers in Chicago that would be taller than this one, but outside of the Chicago Spire, and perhaps the Park Michigan, no other currently proposed skyscraper in the Chicagoland area would have as big of an impact as the one in Evanston.